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MEMBER DIARY

A Spoonful of Bureaucracy

NYC Mayor Bloomberg is certainly not lacking in confidence. He hasn’t backed down an inch in his crusade to achieve a safe and healthy city based on his own all-knowing personal vision. You might recall that when he tried to ban extra-large sugary sodas, the proposal was struck down by a city Supreme Court justice one day before the dubious law was supposed to go into effect. Unaffected by the setback, Bloomberg introduced a proposal to limit the sale of tobacco products. It’s called the “Sensible Tobacco Enforcement” bill, which I suspect made for a much better sell than the “Ridiculous Kicked-in-the-Head Anti-Tobacco Restriction.”

As the NYC legislature tries to muddle through Bloomberg’s efforts to create laws in his own image, he’s been aggressively campaigning for increased gun control. The Mayor revealed last Sunday on “Meet the Press” that he intended to use public taxpayer money—$12 million to be exact—to promote his version of gun control legislation. If Crusader Bloomberg actually had a plan backed up by compelling facts, then I wouldn’t have so much of a problem. But like all misguided do-gooders in government, the power to legislate has less to do with logic and more to do with emotional pandering. How does one explain such arbitrary arrogance? Like the irrepressible nanny Mary Poppins, I imagine Bloomberg might respond, “I never explain anything.”

By his own words, NYC’s Mayor Knows Best has admitted that he believes he knows better than his citizens as to what’s good for them. When defending his soda ban, he told NBC “I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom.” Those are revealing words that illustrate clearly the government-is-smarter-than-you mindset that rules the thinking of so many of our elected officials. Who needs an electorate or a city council when you can just make up your own laws? It’s good to be the Mayor.